


Verdant Verses

by VSSAKJ



Category: Mushishi
Genre: Gen, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:21:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 28
Words: 921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28046859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VSSAKJ/pseuds/VSSAKJ
Summary: collected haikuon the subject of mushiand those who view them(and other poems.)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 5
Collections: Yuletide Madness 2020





	1. prelude

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jan/gifts).



_I walked ten thousand miles, ten thousand miles to see you  
And every gasp of breath, I grabbed it just to find you  
I climbed up every hill to get, to you  
I wandered ancient lands to hold, just you  
And every single step of the way, I paid  
Every single night and day  
I searched for you  
Through sandstorms and hazy dawns,  
I reached for you_

\- The Sore Feet Song (Ally Kerr)


	2. the green throne

empty ink-stained home  
full of phantoms from no where  
left behind alone—alive

half an emerald  
swallowed up in pure white smoke  
ceaseless steps, ceaseless flowing

the taste of sunlight  
during a dusken banquet  
imagine sharing senses


	3. the light in the eyelids

don't fall in the light  
enclosed in total darkness  
don't fall in the dark  
enclosed in total brightness  
don't fall in the flow  
the opposite bank is far  
don't fall in the life  
your hollow eyes going black  
devoured by the bright specks


	4. soft horns

your body's own sound  
muffled in the windless snow  
volcanic silence

blood beats like lava  
beneath the smother of snow  
swallow the silence


	5. the alley through the pillow

dreaming without dreams  
predicting realities  
with soft sharp wrongness  
dust like mould whispers through cracks  
taking everything, heedless  
of what you want left living

cut away the false  
only truth surrounds you now  
mute, black and twisted


	6. the travelling swamp

wedded to the swamp  
given like a gift unasked  
for a gracious end

luminous water  
travelling towards the sea  
hold your breath and breathe

the end will be soft  
uplifted by the cycle  
long life and swift death


	7. the dew consuming swarm

to have infinite  
time to breathe, smile, eat, laugh, love  
to have infinite  
time taken away from you  
to have infinite  
time to fear the coming end  
to have infinite  
freedom, fulfillment and joy  
there is no way to let go


	8. raindrops and rainbows

rain runners running  
outrunning mist-made madness  
seeking vivid snakes

shade-stained childhood dreams  
bearing guilty names with pride  
adrift, drifting, no

flooding enthusiasm  
builds bridges brighter than day  
riding out old storms


	9. where beyond the sea

can you see the shore?  
just choose to transform yourself  
into someone worth being

rhythmic ocean roar  
fusing land and sea as one  
a haze of waveless water

rising highest tide  
ascend beyond the border  
you can see the shore, can’t you?


	10. heavy fruit

a bountiful curse  
bringing life to barren land  
praying for fertility  
a blessing bounty  
miraculous starvation  
ending death and living growth


	11. the whiteness in the ink stone

haven’t breathed in years  
exhaling a puff of smoke  
break ice from the sky

dormant, freezing, water-born  
idle, drifting, cloudy white


	12. to sleep in the mountains

to see yourself in  
a mirror of jealousy  
harsh truths being shared  
beg to be eaten alive  
taste neither sweet nor bitter  
and fade into the bell’s gong


	13. one-eyed fish

mushi-shi see with  
one eye only, blinded by  
a lonely living

smoke separates  
memory from deep darkness  
now, what is your name?


	14. the one-night bridge

descend, arise and  
face the sun like a flower  
waiting to be thread


	15. inside the cage

rustling bamboo sea  
white stalks forming a green cage  
circling, encircling  
repeating so endlessly  
like mother’s embrace  
blending two worlds  
children of leaf and water  
orphans to cry in the night


	16. pretense of spring

blossoms of sweet dreams  
summer surrounded by snow  
sink into gentle repose

promise of comfort  
temptation is a warm home  
and a smiling face


	17. dawn snake

forget forgetting  
remember only the rice  
forget forgetting  
remember only the nice  
forget forgetting  
remember only the sun  
forget forgetting  
remember only your son  
and the smile of light at dawn

creeping shadow steals  
the weave between memories  
shattering glimpses


	18. picking empty cocoons

plucked in a moment  
a soul split into wisp-smoke  
down the passageway

interlocking half  
reaches out of enclosed space  
towards the other


	19. the mountain bearing robe

wrapped in mountain’s breath  
billowing with confidence  
home lives like pigment  
patiently waiting to go  
back in a coffin of ink  
a loving embrace returns


	20. a string in the sky

on the star’s updraft  
infinitesimal lightness  
brightens darkest nights

dawn’s light is lonely  
with wayward lingering stars  
hoping to be cherished


	21. a sea of ink

vanity upsets  
balances and harmonics  
excess destruction

scribing history  
plucks drops from an ink ocean  
to bury legends

walk on, toward then  
black birthmarks all left behind  
promise of future


	22. cotton spores

birthed as shapeless slime  
a human infant eaten  
before being born  
existant community  
defends its own cotton kind  
wearing the skin of a man


	23. the sea shrine

losing how to lose  
resurrect without old time  
and wonder, wonder

regain the losses  
with a heart full of promise  
and clear, bright, new eyes


	24. chorus of rust

inch by creeping inch  
your skin is rigid like steel  
inch by creeping inch  
your limbs are weighted like fer  
inch by inch creeping  
your guilt turns into crystal  
creeping inch by inch  
your seized voice returns softly  
lightened by the ocean breeze


	25. the journey to the field of fire

light of a small flame  
tempting in the dark of night  
swallowing you whole

raze the ice within  
with frozen fire and knowledge  
cough the fear away


	26. pleasant sights, woeful sights

the first time I saw  
colour was a precious gift  
cherished by my heart

the first time I saw  
beyond my own eyes was bright  
scarier than shade

the first time I saw  
future was a heartless curse  
scything me away

the last time I saw  
empty eyes full of visions  
I embraced the dark  
happy to return my gift  
and dwell in memoriam


	27. the sound of footsteps in the grass

mist mountain glows gold  
people of the rain depart  
leaving just questions unasked

mist mountain runs red  
life leaves struggle in its wake  
and answers are never found

mist mountain turns green  
now weak, grass-crowned guardian  
remains unmoved absent light

mist mountain shines white  
holes where family once was  
filled with distant friends instead


	28. coda

_I wonder  
if the wind scythes a path  
through my garden’s wild grass  
so someone can come  
to visit?_

\- Izumi Shikibu

**Author's Note:**

> Episode titles taken from [the list on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mushishi_episodes). Each poem or set of poems was written in response to an episode in season 1.
> 
> Poetry concepts referenced from [Japanese poetry on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_poetry#Poetry_forms_and_concepts). All form and function errors are my own.


End file.
